Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre - Newsletters
Minton Farm Newsletter: May 2012
Our aim is to assist the conservation of the natural diversity of life on Earth.
Download this Newsletter as a pdf click here
Our aim is to assist the conservation of the natural diversity of life on Earth.
Download this Newsletter as a pdf click here
Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre...
... is a not for profit, native animal rescue centre in Cherry Gardens, South Australia. The Aim of the centre is to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured and orphaned native animals and birds, as a free community service. It is operated by the involvement of volunteers who assist with the maintenance of the Centre and Animal Rescue Hospital, and with caring for the animals. There is no formal funding for the work, which has rescued over 8,600 creatures in the on-site Intensive Care Unit, with equally as many off-site through rescue advice throughout Australasia and beyond via our website, email and phone.
There are 300 animals housed within 6 acres of fox and cat proofed fencing, in species specific enclosures. Species assisted include kangaroos, possums, wombats, koalas, emu, eagles, kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, wombats and a myriad of parrots and lorikeets. In addition to this, there are the farm animals ranging from ducks, geese and peacocks through to donkey, ponies, pigs and deer.
There are 300 animals housed within 6 acres of fox and cat proofed fencing, in species specific enclosures. Species assisted include kangaroos, possums, wombats, koalas, emu, eagles, kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, wombats and a myriad of parrots and lorikeets. In addition to this, there are the farm animals ranging from ducks, geese and peacocks through to donkey, ponies, pigs and deer.
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Koala NewsThis year we have achieved our permit to keep koalas and we helped many people with sick and injured adults as well as helping three joey koalas ranging from 380 grams to 1800 grams. We had a 20' x 22' enclosure donated for koala rehabilitation. The volunteers and Green Jobs Corp dismantled and delivered it on a car trailer courtesy of Peter Frith. The roof was added courtesy of our local back hoe driver, Jeff Burton. It was bolted together by the volunteers and was ready to go within a week!! Just amazing stuff and a credit to the goodwill toward the rescue work.
Dear little Paddy’s Mum (a koala) was hit by a train in the middle of the night, amputating two legs, but this dear little man was thrown into the weeds and survived. This little koala was rescued and has clung to life on the back of his substitute teddy bear, munching leaves happily. He has gained 1 kg in the last couple of weeks within the new enclosure. I bought an extension pole for $350 that extends to 4 meters so I can cut the juiciest gum tips for him. It was the best investment I’ve made! Little Shamus koala weighed only 380 grams and at the time of rescue he was found on a bitumen road, having fallen several times from a tree, orphaned by his first time Mum when threatened by a large boisterous male koala. He is feeding well and gaining weight, so cross your fingers for this little bundle of cuteness! The contacts that I made at the Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Hospital have been a comfort, giving advice instantly about the medical management of these joey koalas. He loves to climb up onto the back of my head after his bottle and likes to stay there happily hanging onto my hair, whilst I eat breakfast or while I water the gum trees I have planted as a future food source for rescued koalas. So tiny and so cute now, but he won’t be able to do that when he’s 2kgs! Donate today and help Shamus and Miru!
Click on the Donate button to donate via PayPal |
Wedge Tailed Eagle AnticsI had an amazing experience with Miru, the wedge tailed eagle. I took the builder of the enclosure in to repair the damage to the wall netting. Miru was happily chatting and bringing us sticks etc. She ran right up to our feet, lay down and spread her wings out to sun bake! She laid there so happily for at
least 10 minutes, less than a meter from our feet, and we were riveted to the spot! When she stood up, I gently stroked her head, neck and back (that were burning hot!) and she just stood there so relaxed. I think she was thanking us for her wonderful new enclosure and her new life with all of the other animals around and the two wild visiting eagles that are her friends now! 
Another two wedge tailed eagles chased down a young tawny frogmouth owl chick at Kangarilla. It flew into a tree trunk, bounced off it and onto a car bonnet. The driver rescued the tawny frogmouth owl chick from the wedge tailed eagles and brought it here to Minton Farm. Unfortunately it died from internal damage soon after rescue. Just demonstrates how hard it is to survive in the 'real' world. Life sure can be short and sweet! No wonder baby birds grow so quickly to fledge asap to be self-sufficient within weeks, unlike humans!
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Help Save an Injured Animal Today
Injured Animals need your help to survive! Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre is a not for profit animal welfare organisation that relies on donations, sponsorship and volunteers to provide rescued and injured animals with food, medical treatment and shelter. Without help from caring and kind people like you, it's extremely difficult to provide the level fo care and support that many of these injured animals need to survive.
You can help save an injured animal today by donating generously or sponsoring a native animal here.
Click and help save an injured native animal today!
You can help save an injured animal today by donating generously or sponsoring a native animal here.
Click and help save an injured native animal today!
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Wonderful Wilma the WombatThere is a certain 25kg bundle that oversees the farm activities both day and night. Wilma, is a Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat, but don’t tell her so, as she thinks she is human! Her mother was dug up and eaten at Yalata on the Nullarbor Plains. She was barely 1kg in weight at the time she was rescued and was still in her mother’s pouch. Her well meaning rescuers unfortunately fed her cow’s milk from a bowl, which she inhaled, causing her to have pneumonia and enteritis as well as Salmonella.
She was brought here to Cherry Garden’s Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre. The Vets at the Adelaide Zoo assisted me to medicate her correctly to get on top of all of her infections. It was a long road, but today she weighs in at a healthy 25 kgs at 2 years old, sporting the silkiest coat of smooth, satiny fur. Wilma has never been confined to an enclosure. She has the run of our home, as well as the house paddock. She is proficient at opening the kitchen door by laying sideways and hooking one of her claws from her short, fat, little arms into the edge of the security door, and with one deft swoop, she can fling it open like a piece of tin foil! She spends her days sleeping outside in the dog bedroom, or the large kennel soaking up the sunshine with the Jack Russell and the Chihuahua, or if it’s too warm a day, she retires to the cool room in the old dairy where the milk vat was housed. Our house is consequently not the ‘norm’! It is in fact a wombat burrow!! There’s a baby proof gate across the bedroom doors to prevent her from dragging all of the sheets off of the beds, and ripping the carpets up to the hessian base. There are spirals of plastic tubing around all accessible power cords to prevent her from chewing through the insulation and getting electrocuted. There’s a plastic sheet under a blanket covering the lounge suite to catch any wet puddles she may leave after cuddling into the pillows and blankets strewn over it for her. Will you help Wilma? Click the Donate button below to make a difference today!
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There’s the crunch of muesli, chaff and Weetbix that sticks to your shoes as you walk across the vinyl flooring where she has sorted through her evening feast for her favourite foods, and the slippery patches where she has devoured a cob of corn and left a silvery trail like a snails’ trail. There are narrow bare patches striped along the kitchen vinyl floor where she has chewed near the fridge to get my attention to open the fridge door so she can have a cob of corn or a sweet potato.
There are piles of disposable nappies placed in strategic positions to catch the ebb and flow of wee if she is caught short. There are the little ‘fruitchocs’ dropped in lines across the carpet leaving a tell-tale trail of which direction she has wandered off. Then there are the 40 minutes spent twice a day feeding her bottle to her whilst her solid weight lays across your chest in absolute blissful contentment. Then there’s the morning chase to jump onto the bed to get your socks on before she nips your toes. There is the flurry of fur racing across the kitchen as the Burmese cat plays chasey with the wombat in hot pursuit, until he collapses in a purring heap with the wombat writhing on top; and the comical antics of the Jack Russell riding on top of the wombat that rolls over in delight! Visitors and volunteers need to be aware of her fetish for bare skin at her level - like ankles, shins or her particular delight bare toes! It is quite entertaining when Wilma enters the volunteer kitchen at lunchtime to say g’day, and a wave of legs rise into the air as she waddles past each of the volunteers’ chairs. “Is it worth it?” you may say. "Yes”, 100% of wombat joy, spiced with her devilish sense of humour, abounds in our home, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Native Animals Rescued from HeatAt the Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre’s hospital during the hot spell, in one day we received two rainbow lorikeets, two musk lorikeets, a cormorant found at a nursing home, a rosella chick, an adult ringtail attacked by a cat, a tiny ringtail orphan, a tiny galah nestling, a blue tongue lizard with a crushed jaw, a fledgling long billed corella hit by a car, and a tiny welcome swallow!! Another hot day and it was on again!!
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Rolling and Raising
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Kookaburra CapersA young kookaburra was trapped inside a swimming pool skimmer box for quite some time. It was freezing cold; water logged and had broken many of its tail feathers off.
The kookaburra was discovered, rescued and arrived at our Animal Rescue Centre’s hospital for some care and recovery. After a night in the humidicrib he was most indignant about his embarrassing predicament. He ate well from the word go without regurgitating his feeds, so we released him home once we’d observed him flying well in the flight enclosure. Another young kookaburra chick was found listless on a road. After being rescued, resting and recovering here, he was flying strongly and eating like a horse! Both kookaburras went home, a much fatter, healthier prospects in the big world fulfilling their role in our wonderfully biodiverse world. One little kookaburra came into Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre covered in mud, unable to fly and was being fed on the ground by his parents. After a warm bath and a big feed he was a new man! We released him on a post in the back yard he was hatched in, and even the bronze wings came to welcome him home. Grant ApplicationsOur sincere thanks to Dr Rachel Westcott for offering to auspice our future grant applications. It's a huge help and greatly appreciated!
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Nankeen Kestrel Returns to NatureA rescued Nankeen Kestrel was brought into our Native Animal Rescue Centre suffering from concussion after hitting the window of a recently constructed, large, building that had appeared in his territory. After a check up and brief stay the kestrel was ready to be released into nature again. We returned the Nankeen Kestrel to Eagle on the Hill, where he flew off beautifully into the sky.
That weekend Glenn and I also released a baby kookaburra back to her family at Upper Sturt; returned a magpie, galah, brushtail possum and baby, and a knob tailed gecko to their home territories. Exhilarating!! Minton Farm Supports StudentsWe have assisted many University students from Adelaide and Flinders Universities and Roseworthy Vet students to fulfill their practical experience at the centre.
We are also assisting Roseworthy to obtain wildlife for the students to learn how to anaesthetise, medicate, diagnose etc... in an effort to help improve the future availability of Vets trained in wildlife care. We are also storing deceased native animals for vet students to practice on. But our freezers are very old and need replacing. If you know of any decent freezers that can be donated, please send them our way. |
A Bear in Need is a Bear in Deed !
Desperately Needed Daily:
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Teddy Bears Needed for Koala Bears!We also need large teddies/bunnies for the koala joeys to cling to, in various sizes from approx. 20cms up to approx. 50cms.
Koala joeys are kept in cane baskets with a handle over the top so that it can be hung in a tree with their teddy for security, whilst they learn to navigate branches and munch on leaves. If you have any that you would like to donate for koala rehabilitation, we would be deeply grateful. 
Thanks for Helping!Thanks to David and Liz Hope and Sheryl Glassmith for delivering delicious morsels for Paddy the koala.
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Bedding for BearsCotton bunny rugs and baby sleeping bags are excellent for koala joeys to sleep in. If you don’t need yours any more, donate to us, they will be put to good use!
Sell Your Home
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Donations Gratefully Accepted
Donations of a energy efficient freezer, gum tree branchs, teddy bears, large stuffed toys, cane baskets, and bedding materials
are gratefully accepted at:
Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre,
455 Cherry Gardens Road,
Cherry Gardens SA 5157
If the front gate is closed when you deliver them, you can put your donations into the cages on the road in front of Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre.
If you don't have any gum trees, teddy bears, bedding or baskets, but still want to donate, you can make a cash donations or sponsor an animal. Click here to find out how you can help today!
Thank you so very much for your assistance to improve the chances of survival for the 8,200 creatures rescued at the Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre.
Cheers, Bev. XX
are gratefully accepted at:
Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre,
455 Cherry Gardens Road,
Cherry Gardens SA 5157
If the front gate is closed when you deliver them, you can put your donations into the cages on the road in front of Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre.
If you don't have any gum trees, teddy bears, bedding or baskets, but still want to donate, you can make a cash donations or sponsor an animal. Click here to find out how you can help today!
Thank you so very much for your assistance to improve the chances of survival for the 8,200 creatures rescued at the Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre.
Cheers, Bev. XX
